Articles

Hugs Teddy Bears Help the Fire Department

Fire Marshal, James Penrose of the Port Washington Fire Dept. was very appreciative of the 130 teddies that were just sent to the Dept. from Hugs. They have 18 fire trucks and ambulances that respond to fires, medical emergencies, auto accidents and Carbon Monoxide alarm situations in a large suburban town outside of NYC. Fire Marshal Penrose spoke of two situations that he and his men responded to over the weekend. Both involved CO alarms. In one instance, 2 little girls one 2 yrs and the other 4yrs,. were asleep when the alarm went off. When the department got to the residence they had to wake the children and bring them to the ambulance for the EMS to check out. Both were very frightened and crying. Jim ran to the truck and got two bears for them to hug and “immediately the tears were turned to very big smiles”. In the next CO call, “with 25 ppm of co in a 4 family house the child this time was 7yrs old and was suffering from multiple problems including brain damage from birth. He was outside running around uncontrollably because he was very scared from all that was going on. After I got my job done, again I ran back out to my truck and got a bear, this completely calmed him down. He even gave me a high five right before I left the scene”. Hugs made a big difference and does so every day.